At Long Last....A Kitchen Reno!

Hey Peeps!!!

Long time no blog!!!  Well, get ready because we are firing up the Blog again and you're coming along for a much quieter version of my kitchen renovation.  Be warned, this is a long post with lots of pictures.  

Let's recap the house, we moved into this home just 10 years ago.  WOW....I can't believe it was that long ago!   This picture is from before we closed on the house, in April 2014.

I don't have any pics of the kitchen when we first purchased but here are the pics from the other night when I had finished emptying my kitchen and den area at 2:30 in the morning.

This is the den area, we are ripping off the slate on the fireplace, hanging a new TV over the fireplace, and getting a new mantle built.   The white colonial trim (that NEVER looked right in the space) was pulled off and the back door and windows are being replaced with the new folding glass doors.  All flooring is being ripped up and replaced with brick floors.   

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The arched opening on the right goes back to the laundry room, MereBear's room, Abogg's room, and to the garage.  It is currently sealed off so to get to that side of the house you have to go out the front door and around the house to the garage.    

The other side of the den will get a wall extension where the flat part of the stairs is located. 

That'll give us space to put a full sofa along that wall.   The brown part is the curve portion of our old sectional, just waiting for bulk trash day next week.  The small white door on the left goes into our pool bathroom and it will be getting a new pocket door.   That will make getting in and out of that bathroom from the outside sooooo much easier. 

Spin around you can look into the kitchen.   Everything in this kitchen is already gone.  

It looks fine but functionality-wise, it never worked for us. 

That second island with the cooktop was about 1 inch off center and it drove me absolutely bonkers!

The area of wall cabinets on the left is where my new 48-inch pro-style range with double ovens is going and I could NOT be happier!  6 burners, a griddle, and 2 ovens mean I will actually want to cook again!  The fur downs will come down so the cabinets can extend to the ceiling. 

We have a new microwave drawer coming to this area and the rest will be cabinets with countertop space.

Looking into the kitchen from the windows. 

We are getting an even bigger refrigerator/freezer and that opening is being closed off.  It goes to the formal dining room.   The cabinets will get extended and Reggie will be getting his own feeding station built into the end of the cabinet.  He's pretty excited and has been overly appreciative of the construction guys every morning when they show up.  

This too-tall island is gone and a new 11-foot island running the other direction will be replacing it. 

The sink, dishwasher, and under-counter ice maker will be housed in the new island and it will seat 8 people.   

This island is gone and not a day too soon.   If you opened the dishwasher you couldn't get between these two islands so you can see why I hated it.   Also, I want my gas stove back.  We used to have a gas cooktop but had a line bust in the freeze a few years ago.  We knew we were planning for a full kitchen remodel in the next few years so we replaced it with an electric cooktop as an interim.  Fun fact: yesterday Hubster was pulling out of the garage and backed over that cooktop.  Guess that won't make it to the donation center after all.  

This is my formal dining room: AKA our temporary kitchen for the next 6-8 weeks.

We have a small microwave and toaster oven on the tabletop. 

Underneath we have an electric skillet, rice cooker, and crockpot.  

We fancy, right?!

Over by the front door is the coffee station with the Vitamix blender.  I have a Daily Harvest smoothie every day for lunch so I needed a spot for the blender plus I mean, it's a kitchen renovation and you know margaritas will be needed.     

I don't know if you remember but back about 2 years ago when I was staying down at the beach house while they were renovating the bottom floor these shoes were a construction folly!   My sweet little AprilMayJune had given them to us for the wedding and since I went to the beach right after the wedding they were with me.   Anytime the crew needed to ask me something or show me some new impending dilemma they'd come up and say "Get your pink fuzzy slippers and come down here".   They are now at the taped-off entrance to the den/kitchen area back in action.  

Moving on to yesterday, Demo Day. 

I took this pic from my little makeshift kitchen window.  That's my old kitchen all piled up in the driveway before the dumpster was delivered. 

Looking like the Clampetts over her for sure!

I got my pantry cleaned out last night.  The little open area is where my wine refrigerator was located.  It's next to my chair in our tv room now.  Wine refrigerators as end tables, it should be a thing. 

The rest of the pantry.  We are only getting this repainted and the floors will match the new brick floors.

The original demo plan was to gut and rebuild but we needed to "trim the fat" so to speak on the budget and the pantry was just redone a couple of years ago so that was an easy decision to make. 

End of day 1 demo looking to the kitchen door. 

Stove wall side is gone.  Reggie is inspecting the work while we sweep up a little more. 

The fireplace already looks better.  And there is that sectional piece just hanging out in a new spot.  

That goofy colonial trim is gone too, just the paint outlines remain. 

I'm so excited about getting the doors in and this being so much lighter and brighter.  We went with a relatively new company in Texas, Glass Expanse.  They had a 8 week turnaround time and the doors are made in here in Texas instead of China.  It'll be the last part of the renovation considering the timeline but one I'm looking forward to for sure!  By the way, doors are EXPENSIVE!!  I mean, like dumb expensive.

Anyone need a built in refrigerator/freezer?  We've got one just hanging out, the ice maker doesn't work but otherwise it is fine.   Hubster insisted on a GINORMOUS refriferator/freezer in the remodel.   I'm sure I'll love it but it's a real estate hog.  haha 

One more look at our makeshift kitchen and where I'll be serving up microwaved deliciousness for the next 6-8 weeks. 

Day 1 dinner:   Grilled cheese made in our super snacker.   Super Snacker was unearthed from the depths of the pantry.  I suppose that's the nice thing about pulling everything out, you always find something cool you forgot you had.  

                                                            Peace, Love  & Pass the Tylenol